


They Got My Heart (they got my soul)

by fatedfeathers



Series: these are my people (these are my friends) [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, As best as I can for this one at least, Canon Compliant, Gen, Pre-Stream (Critical Role)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 02:09:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16546793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fatedfeathers/pseuds/fatedfeathers
Summary: He had been alone when he clawed his way out of his grave. He’d been alone, and then suddenly she was there and he wasn’t alone.





	They Got My Heart (they got my soul)

**Author's Note:**

> This was a long time coming! Sorry for the wait; just as I got in the groove for it, I broke my phone, from which I do all my writing, and had to wait a week for a new one, and then I hit a little bit of a block. So I’m sorry about that, but I hope this lives up to the wait!
> 
> Title from Family by Mother Mother

_dark cold dark empty alone close alone empty alone empty empty **empty—**_

He had been alone when he clawed his way out of his grave. He’d been alone, and then suddenly She was there and he wasn’t alone. And then Gustav found the two of them, staring at each other, covered in dirt, and sitting next to a freshly undug grave, shaking in the cold. Naturally, he took them right in. His patchwork cat flowed over to— to Her, he knew there should be a name, a flash of recognition deeper than _yes right mine_ but there was _nothing wrong empty empty empty **empty—**_

He hadn’t realized he’d been speaking, grave dirt and grit and disuse making his voice quiet and rough and raw, barely there and painful to hear and one word over and over. Empty. Gustav knelt by him, trying to comfort him, his Rowan nosing at Her for any response. Eventually, she picked Her up by the scruff, as a mother cat would a kitten, though She wasn’t a cat She was a— a— _What was She his She was His but what was She changing fluid empty **empty—**_

And then She was in his lap, a shuddering kitten, and Gustav and Rowan were quiet for a beat before calling for someone to carry him back to the camp.

……

They had no names and one word between the two of them, and not a single idea as to how they’d ended up in a shallow grave by the road. Or, more accurately—how _he’d_ ended up in a shallow grave by the road, as She hadn’t been there until he broke the surface. And what a sight they made; him, a fully grown tiefling, and Her still changing and shifting as though he were a child.

The carnival didn’t talk about it. The carnival attracted all sorts of strange folk, and knew better than to pry into someone else’s affairs. Some things went unasked and unspoken: Yasha left sometimes, no one had seen Kylre’s dæmon, the new tiefling didn’t speak but one word and had a dæmon who hadn’t settled.

……

He spent all his time with Yasha and Elta when they were around, and when they weren’t, could be found either trailing around with Gustav and Rowan or trying to entertain Toya and Tisnyl best he could without a voice. She stayed close to him, usually keeping to smaller forms so She could stay in contact with him in some way. The one exception to this was when they were with Gustav—She would always change into the same kitten She had when Rowan had picked Her up that first night when they were together.

Toya had taken to calling him MT, for the similarity to his limited vocabulary. None of the other dæmons had a name for Her, though; She was just his, just MT’s. And that’s all that mattered to the two of them. She didn’t need a name, She just needed to be with him.

He, on the other hand, did eventually need a name. Gustav tried to wait to see if he would start speaking again, if he would say a name himself, but eventually they had to move on. And MT wasn’t going to be enough; he needed a name. So Gustav gave him one.

……

Mollymauk Tealeaf made his way with the rest of the carnival through the empire, stopping here and there; sometimes having Yasha, sometimes not; sometimes keeping on the good side of the Crownsguard, sometimes not and having to leave earlier than expected.

Along the way, he picked up his deck and learned to read it. He picked up tattoos, and covered himself in color to mask the feeling of being covered in grave dirt.

Finally, he picked up his voice and learned how to use it. He learned to weave a story, how to push just hard enough to get conversation started, how to crack a joke and how to take one. He started talking, and didn’t stop again, for fear of losing it.

He never picked up a name for Her, and She never picked up a permanent form.

……

The two of them walked into a tavern in Trostenwald, Yasha and Elta at their back. Their eyes found a group of people they felt… drawn to. Inexplicably.

“Well! I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a group of people more in need of a good time in my entire life. Mollymauk Tealeaf, of the Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities! If there was ever a group of people that needed a good time, needed to go out, have a laugh, see things that you have never seen before, and my god, take my word for it, one month’s time, people will be buying your ale to hear the tale of what you saw at the Traveling Carnival of Curiosities this night.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dæmons:  
> Molly: unsettled, unnamed  
> Gustav: patchwork tabby cat, Rowan  
> Toya: unsettled, Tisnyl  
> Yasha: golden eagle, Elta


End file.
